1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic steel sheet having excellent magnetic properties, preferably to an electromagnetic steel sheet for application as a magnetic core, and a production method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is preferable that an electromagnetic steel sheet (silicon steel sheet) has a texture such that the electromagnetic properties in the magnetization direction in use can be excellent. A preferable texture varies depending upon the application. However, for an EI core, which has the magnetization directions orthogonal to each other, a so-called cubic texture with a {100} rolled face orientation and a &lt;100&gt; rolling orientation (RD) is most preferable.
In order to obtain such a texture, various methods have been advocated so far.
Examples thereof include a melt quenching method disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-306438, a cross rolling method disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-271774, a tertiary recrystallization method disclosed in "Growth of (110) [001]-Oriented Grains in High-Purity Silicon Iron-A Unique Form of Secondary" (TRANSACTIONS OF THE METALLURGICAL SOCIETY OF AIME, VOL 218, 1960 P. 1033-1038), and a columnar crystal growth method disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-262997.
However, since all of the above-mentioned methods excluding the melt quenching method depend on cold rolling and annealing, a complicated process is required as disclosed in the official gazette of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-346621. Further, the melt quenching method requires a special cooling roller. Therefore, in either of the methods, high production costs have been problematic.
On the other hand, a grain oriented silicon steel sheet is known as an expensive electromagnetic steel sheet. The grain oriented silicon steel sheet has a texture having a so-called Goss orientation, {110}&lt;001&gt; orientation in the vicinity of the surface layer of the hot rolled steel sheet in a small amount so that secondary recrystallization can be conducted, utilizing the Goss orientation grains. The magnetic properties thus obtained are superior in the rolling direction (RD), but inferior in the transverse direction (TD).
It has been a common view that Si is superior to other alloy elements from the comprehensive aspect although some elements are superior to Si in one of the characteristics including magnetic and mechanical properties, in particular, processability and alloy cost. However, the present inventors elaborately studied the application of the alloy elements other than Si into an electromagnetic steel sheet and discovered that an electromagnetic steel sheet with an Fe-P composition can obtain properties superior to those of a silicon steel sheet as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-41101.